r/TheMindIlluminated • u/glibgamii • 5d ago
Why is meditation special for developing unification of mind?
Ive been rereading TMI again and am really enjoying the interludes on explanations on how mindfulness actually changes us, but had some questions on why exactly meditation is the primary behavior for unification of mind rather than something else, ie. drug interventions, exercise, talk therapy. I’d be interested in both the neuroscience and suttas explanations if someone has that information. Is it simply the fact we’re using intentions, which over time all our subminds adapt to accept and act out the intentions or is this interpretation missing something?
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u/medbud 5d ago edited 4d ago
I like this question..
It makes me think about various 'flow states' and how people achieve them.
A commonality along them being a kind of meta experience of an 'autopilot' function born out of practice, generally as spaced repetition of a task.
It seems to be that meditation is particularly efficient, as it takes mind itself as the object, rather than say, skiing, or other transcendental activities.
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u/Adaviri Teacher in Training 5d ago edited 5d ago
All of the things you mentioned can have some potential in aiding the unification of mind in the sense of calming tensions in the mind, thereby lessening their distractive potential. They can all bring some amount of peace, relaxation, happiness, and a sense of security. These are all helpful for unification.
However, what makes meditation 'special' in a sense is that in concentrated meditative practice the mind is applying itself to some limited - and often relatively monotonous - task, such as following the breath. The same word that is used for unification of mind - ekaggatā - also means 'one-pointedness'. This does not mean only that the attention is necessarily fixed 'at one point', but also that the mind 'points' in one direction. This, too, doesn't just mean attention: it means that the mind has some task which it keeps up with more and more prominence, while other tasks and phenomena recede into the background.
This brings about unification, which is exactly the capacity for the mind to act 'one-pointedly'. And the good thing about e.g. breath meditation is that it is, in fact, quite boring for an ordinary, untrained mind. When you get deeper into it the mind will notice that fixating on even such a monotonous, conventionally unstimulating task will actually bring about great joy, peace, and harmony. Joy in the form of pīti-sukha/pleasant energy, tranquillity (passaddhi) and other pleasant and useful qualities will start emerging.
This gives the mind, over time, more and more insight into the fact that these happy, useful qualities are not in fact dependent on the object or task itself - on external conditions - but rather on whether the mind is indeed one-pointed and harmonized in its functioning.
Taking a walk in nature, engaging in stimulating conversations with friends, eating food, sex - all of these things and so many others can be quite absorptive indeed. But they are also conventionally stimulating. They do not serve to break the illusion that happiness and tranquillity are dependent on external conditions.
Meditation does, exactly because it is so monotonous and counter to our cultural, and perhaps even biological, programming - the neverending restless seeking for external conditions to make us whole, to make us happy. A futile task, since the answer is, again, not found in those conditions, but in the functioning of the mind itself. :)
Of course the monotony and relative silence of practice also serves by itself to promote metacognitive awareness, which is necessary for insight to arise, and which so very easily gets lost in the hustle and bustle of more stimulating activities!